Monday, August 1, 2011

20 Days on the Road: 2 Days Bouldering Near Pemberton

It was raining in Squamish, and we were about to drive to a gym in Vancouver. The forecast looked grim everywhere, but the current radar offered a little hope. Rain was coming into Squamish from the south. It wasn't raining north of Whistler. At least not yet. The Squamish guidebook has a section about the Green River Bastion boulders. They looked good, they were near Pemberton, and it was possible that they were dry. We decided to take the chance.

The boulders were dry when we got there. As soon as we had warmed up, it began to rain. We tried to climb as fast as we could, in order get things done before the boulders got too wet. It wasn't a very relaxed session. Eventually the boulders did get wet, but a few faces somehow stayed dry under the most dense forest canopy. The east side of the slug boulder stayed dry despite hours of rain.

Ashley climbing "The Crimp."

One thing we liked about the Green River Bastion was the abundance of fine crimp problems.The style is different than Squamish, and the bouldering is high quality. The Green River Bastion boulders are worth a visit from Squamish, even if the local boulders aren't too wet to climb.

Ashley climbing "Slug Traverse Low."Two days later the rain had stopped, but the forested Squamish boulders were still too wet to climb. We drove up to Pemberton again. All the boulders were dry, and we spent a great session at the Cosmic Boulders.

Climbing "Doobie Time."A traverse called "Payne Tolerance."One of my "crux faces." Sometimes, I feel sorry for my bouldering partners."Payne Tolerance" had a higher grade than anything else I did on the trip, but grades are strange. Especially on granite. I had to try my very hardest on so many lines, regardless of their grade. One problem that made me dig deeper than most is called "Wax On."

The hardest V3 I've ever done.

Over the next couple days things dried out in Squamish. And we were able to get back into the woods during our last climbing day in Canada.